Improvement in breech-loading ordnance



` G. I. WASHBURN.

Breach-Loading Fire-Arm.

v' Patented Oct.- 6; 18,63.

Gf L WASHBURN.

Breach-Loading Fire-Arm.

2 shew-Sheet 2.

No 40,205.. v j Patented Oct. 6, 1863.

, Witnesses- N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITNOGRAPHER. WASHINGToN D C Unrrien Smarts Parham Ottica.

GEORGE I. VASHBURN, OF VORGESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT iN BREECl-h-LOADING ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 6205, dated October G, ISGS.

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, GEORGE I. WASHBURN, of the city of VOrceSter, in the county of Torcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Breech Loading Ordnance and Fire-Arms 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in Which- Figure I is a central longitudinal section of acannon constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a top View of the same. Fig. 3 is a face view of the breech and its appurtenances. Figs. 4, 5, 6 are views of some of the details, which will be hereinafter explained.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in so applying a system of levers or equivalent mechanical devices in combination with a movable breech that the pressure produced on the breech by the force of the explosion of the charge of the gun is converted by said lever into a forward pressure of a portion of the breech against the barrel or principal portion of the gun by which the breech-joint is kept tight.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, T will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A i's the barrel or principal portion of the gun, bored throughout. portion of the movable breech, hinged to the barrel at b, below the bore. O is a yoke attached to the barrel A, on opposite sides thereof, and near the trunnions c c. The breech is allowed to open for the introduction of the charge into the rear of the barrel in a forward direction by dropping the yoke C. The opening of the breech takes place by a downward movement on the hinge b. The open rear end of the barrel Ais faced in plane form, as indicated by the line a a, Figs. I and 2. The breech B is bored out from the front in cylindrical form, considerably larger than the bore of the barrel, as shown at d d in Fig. I; and at the rear of this bore d d there is formed in the breech a concave seat, e e, of the form of part of a true sphere, for the reception of a hemispherical block, D,'of steel,

B is the principalA which I-will term the fulcrum-block,7 and the face of which is concave to form an acute angle at the edge t' i, which constitutes the fulcrum of the breech-levers E E, which constitute the principal feature of my invention, the said edge t' t' standing out in front of the spherical seat e e. The levers E E are made in the shape of sectors, as shown in Fig. 6, a perspective view of one of them, and Fig. et a front view of the whole, and they nearly fill the -whole area of the bore d d, leaving just space enough between and around them to permit them to rock on the fulcrum-rim t' The space within the bore d (l in front of the sectors-is occupied by a ring, g, which iitewww snugly but easily therein, and a cylindrical plug, 71'which fits snugly into the said ring, the said plug being of a diameter alittle greater than the bore of the gun. Fig. is a rear view of this ring and plug. The exterior periphery of the ring g is nished off in the form of a portion of a sphere, that it may rock easilyfAW//w within the bore d d. The plug h, which is of a thickness or depth equalto or slightly greater than the ring g, has its rear side chamfered at its edges, that it may not bear upon the levers E E too near the fulcrumt t. The ring g is of such thickness that, when pressed back into the bore d (l as far as permitted by the levers E E, it protrudes slightly beyond the front of the breech. The fulcrum-block D, levers E E, ring g, and plug h should be all of steel. The ring g has attached by rivets j j a thin plate, k, of copper or other metal, which may betermeda diaphragm,77 covering the whole face, and this diaphragm, when the breech is closed, tits snugly up to the rear face, a a, of the barrel. The diaphragm k, ring g, and plug 7L may all be considered as parts of the breech. The diaphragm, instead of being attached'to the ring,` may be attached to the plunger or to the point of the breech outside of the ring g. y

To coniine the ring, plug, levers, and fulcrum-block in place while the breech is open, I secure a thin metal ring, Z, to the front portion of the breech, the interior of said ring being larger than the front portion of the eX- terior of the ring h, but smallerthan thelarger portion of the said ring, n u, Fig. 3, are pins securing the ring Z to the breech.

The operation is as follows: The force ofthe explosion7 acting against the plug 7i through the flexible diaphragm 7;, tends-to produce a recoil of the said plug` and press it back against the inner ends of the levers E E, and the pressure of the plug against those ends of the levers tends to force their outer ends forward against the ring g, which is thus made to bring thc diaphragm 7a so tightly up against the rear face, a a, of the barrel as to prevent the escape of gas between the breech and barrel.

My invention is not conned to any particular construct-ion of and mode of opening the breech. A similar system of levers, ring, and plug to ,that described may be applied in rear of a chambered breech, which connects with the barrel in front of `the charge. rPhe iieXible plate 7a may in that case constitute the rear of the breech, and be .either made of a separate piece of plate, the breech being bored through the rear or of the same piece of metal with the breech, and a similar system of levers, ring7 and plug may be applied Within the recoilshield ofa revolver. rlhe separate fulcrum-bloclr D may be dispensed with by providing at the back of the bore d a suitable shoulder for the levers.v One piece of steel may be made of such form as to serve the pur- That I claim as my invention, and desireto A secure by Letters Patent, is-

So applying a system of levers or other equivalent mechanical devices in combination with the breech of a breech-loading or chaxnber-loading piece of ordnance lor other iirearm that the pressure of the explosion acting upon such levers shall tend to close the joint between the breech and barrel, substantially as described.

GEORGE l. VASHBURN.

Witnesses:

V. S. Davis, C. VASHBURN. 

